Software quality assurance in Scrum: The need for concrete guidance on SQA strategies in meeting user expectations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify and present the concerns of project stakeholders in relation to Software Quality Assurance (SQA) in a Scrum environment. Guided by the tenets of Classic Grounded Theory Methodology, this exploratory and inductive case study uncovers SQA concepts related to the main concern of Meeting User Expectations. In trying to resolve the main concern, the Scrum project stakeholders alluded to lack of “Concrete Guidance” on SQA strategies, tools, and techniques in Scrum, The lack of concrete guidance in Scrum requires a development team to devise Innovations which may include Adopting Practices from other methodologies and carefully designing the Process Structure to accommodate the Adopted Practices, ensure Continuous Improvement of the process, and provide an environment for Collaborative Ownership. By demonstrating the incompleteness of Agile methods with particular attention to the lack of concrete guidance in Scrum, the study draws on method tailoring literature to argue for customisation of Scrum. The study further proposes that Scrum needs to be viewed as a framework of `empty buckets' which need to be filled with situation specific SQA practices and processes in order to meet user expectations.